HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS AGING AND OLDER-PEOPLE - PRELIMINARY-REPORT OF THE REACTIONS TO AGING QUESTIONNAIRE

The rationale, development and preliminary findings are outlined for t he Reactions to Ageing Questionnaire (RAQ). The first version of the i nstrument was developed following a content analysis of open ended res ponses. Subsequent administrations to nurses and members of the genera l population resulted in revisions, producing a 30-item questionnaire. Results are reported of psychometric analyses following administratio n of the final version to 531 health professionals. Assessments of ite m homogeneity, use of factor analysis and assessment of associations w ith other measures of attitudes support the instrument's reliability a nd validity.